One of the things I’m enjoying most about being an author, is the chance to go new places, meet inspiring people and make new connections. I recently had the pleasure of meeting the folks from Green Options Media at the Green Festival in San Francisco.

I’m thrilled to be asked to be a regular blogger here at Eco Child’s Play. I want to tell you a bit about myself and what I hope to contribute here. I am the author of the Gaia Girls Book Series, a wellness columnist, speaker and presenter, and doing my best to live lightly on the earth.

The first book in the seven-book Gaia Girls series, Gaia Girls Enter the Earth, came out in 2006 and won several awards, including the National Outdoor Book Award. I routinely present to schools and groups, email and blog with my young readers. Let your hearts be light…there is a real passion brewing in the next generation!

But what makes one kid want to “save the earth” and another want nothing more than a Nintendo Wii? How do we keep our message of sustainability from becoming abstract dogma? I believe the answers lie in the powerful threads of myth and story that transcend time and culture.

They say a tree is only as strong as its roots. Creating strong, green roots in a child is more often a product of early exploration, storytelling, imagination, creative outlet and good ‘ol anthropromorphism, than lectures about recycling or saving the rainforest. How many of us heard Just So Stories or Aesop’s Fables at a young age and then went out in the world with new eyes, wondering about the Hero’s Journey , happening at all levels?

After all, humanity, with the exception of the last 70 years or so, has used stories to teach the ways of the world! I will be blogging about ways and means to ignite the “hero spark” in age-appropriate ways. I am eager for your feedback, comments and suggestions.

[This post was written by Lee Welles.]